Well, yesterday marked the beginning of week 3 of the country wide strike here in Guinea. Most things continue to be at a stop and few vehicles are on the road - a far cry from the normally three-deep-on-a-two-lane-road we usually have to battle daily around here. Much has happened since I last wrote but things keep changing so quickly it’s hard to keep up.

Monday was bad. It was really the worst day in terms of negative activity going on. I’ll let the news report cover it for me…if you haven’t already seen the article you can read about it at:  [1] http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/764468a80976126c9f361b39f005d019.htm . Honestly it was the first time we started wondering if we might really have to up and leave for a while. Should things continue in that direction it would only get worse. Tim’s bag is packed behind me as I write and I have my list of things ready to grab should I need to. A call to Tim and Heidi revealed that things had turned extremely sour in Siguiri where they are working, in the upper northeast part of the country. The Peace Corps was ready to evacuate their people and the Nortons were considering heading to Bamako (Mali, just north of Guinea) as well.

Then yesterday morning came and we all waited anxiously for news. The mission community here in Conakry all have short range radios on which we can communicate which makes it excellent in crisis situations. Since we have missionaries all over the city each can call in and report what they are seeing in their neighborhood. We’ve often heard calls come in such as,” There’s a mob of people outside my door gathering garbage to burn…” “Military trucks just passed our house firing guns into the air…” “Gunfire being heard in our neighborhood.” The daughter of one missionary family works at the US embassy so we were also getting regular updates on where they were at and what was happening in that area of town. In this way we can be prepared for whenever the embassy should happen to begin evacuating their non-essential personnel. The photo I sent last time was sent from a CMA missionary who just recently started a radio station and who is continuing to head to work each morning. So we have really been able to keep pretty well on top of things. And with the internet now news is just a click away.

So it was like breathing fresh air yesterday when the first message from our mission radio was that there was to be a “day off of striking” that day as negotiations started. The Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) was planning to send a delegation to meet and try and help resolve issues in Guinea. Guinea is quite an important player in this part of the world. As you’ve probably read, much of the world’s bauxite comes from this country, and that affects parts of the world outside Africa. Also, we are surrounded by countries that have been troubled by unrest for over a decade and are now trying to get back on their feet. What would war here do to countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia where you have a generation that grew up with guns in their hands? Another call to Tim and Heidi indicated that the same was happening their way as well. All had been quiet that day. They had heard that missionaries in Kankan were staying put so they were hanging on as well. We agreed, however, that should ANYTHING look threatening that they would leave immediately for Bamako.

So a large WHOOP when out when the announcement came and shortly after that we started getting messages about what stores were opening up for a short time to give people a chance to restock on some food supplies. Some were even speculating that the strike could be over by today! Out we went. The streets had some cars but we made it to the store in record time with little traffic on the road. I think everyones spirits were lifted as people set out to shop, visit friends and just get out of the house! We all wondered where this would head. But we had doubts even with this good news as: 1) so far we’d heard no indication that either side was ready to compromise, and 2) strikes in the past have led to promises never kept. We could only watch and see.

This morning I found the following on the net: [2] http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2007-01-25-voa6.cfm. It is exciting news but it’s hard to get too excited until we get the feel of what people think of all this. Is this a promise that will be kept? Do people trust it? I’m sure we’ll hear more today and see where we are headed. The situation is critical at this point. The price of rice has skyrocketed to over three times what it was before the strike, IF you can find it. And before the strike people considered it almost beyond their means. The economy is, in essence, at a halt. There is little meat to be found in stores anymore and the electricity is a joke (we’re probably running at about 50 volts instead of 220!)

Prayers are obvious! If this is truly a compromise and a promise kept maybe we can get through this without any more dying or injured. If so it would indeed be the hand of God just from looking at this from the eyes of the people here. Pray that things stay calm and that today brings real good news for the Guineans!!

Thanks for your unending prayers and your many words of encouragement and support!! I can’t believe our internet has kept going through all this!! That has been a huge blessing and we are thankful daily!! God be with you and God be with this country!